


Far More Than Fifty

by firebirdschild



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Community: 31_days, Gen, Picard Is A Tea Snob, These Things Count As Command Presence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-05
Updated: 2013-06-05
Packaged: 2017-12-14 01:27:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/831125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firebirdschild/pseuds/firebirdschild
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He's been tweaking the replicators since he was an Ensign.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Far More Than Fifty

“Earl Grey, hot,” he ordered from the replicator with that same even tone he’d have used on one of his nervous young ensigns. It was only a computer, but somehow he always felt like it helped, if only when it came to the outward image of imposing calm he presented to everyone else around him while placing the order.

They didn’t know that he’d been ordering Earl Grey, hot, since _he_ was a nervous young ensign. They didn’t know that the first cup of tea the replicators had produced for him when given those instructions had been so undrinkable that he’d actually spat a mouthful all over his year-mates in the mess hall. 

Jean-luc Picard had been ordering that same damned cup of tea ever since. With grim determination he’d continued tweaking exactly what the replicators defined as Earl Grey throughout his lieutenancy. At first, he’d begged maman to send him proper tea from Earth so he could try to figure out why it was that the stuff the replicators made didn’t taste right. He’d tried different brands. He’d tried different ages. He’d even resorted to blending his own components at one point. 

It wasn’t the tea. It was the replicator. Something about the synthesized essence which it presented as tea was just completely wrong. As if the machine just didn’t grasp the concept of what tea was supposed to be in the first place. To be honest, he’d been unsure how it was that anyone else ever put up with drinking a cup of tea from the replicators, the stuff was so bad. 

So he’d resorted to painstakingly teaching the replicators what tea _should_ be. It’d taken decades. A career worth of careful adjustments to be able to reach the position of non-chalantly ordering “Earl Grey, hot”. 

But on a day like today, it was worth it. On a day when he had to greet a fresh-faced new ensign from a race only recently allied with the Federation, the ability to place that order with his firm, even tone, to take that first sip and look contented in the flavor, _that_ that was everything.

“Good day, Ensign Roe, and welcome aboard the Enterprise...”


End file.
